594 A L M A L M the provinces of Fez, Marocco, Tlemcen, Oran, and Tunis; and passing into Spain, they overran Andalusia, Valencia, and a part of Aragon and Portugal, as far the Ebro on one side and the Tagus on the other. But this vast empire was not of long continuance; for in the year 1212, when the Moslems under Mohammed were defeated by the Christian princes of Spain in the great battle of Las Navas, near Tolosa, the governors of the several provinces took advantage of that disaster to throw off their allegiance, and declared themselves independent an example that was the signal for a general revolt. The dynasty of the Almohades became extinct in Spain in the year 1257, and in Africa in 1269. The last sovereign of this race, Abu Dabus Edris, who had with difficulty maintained a shadow of power in the city of Marocco, was assassinated by a slave. They were succeeded by the dynasties of the Hassides, the Mevanides, and the Merinides. See ALMOKAVIDES. ALMON, JOHN, a political pamphleteer and publisher of considerable note, was born at Liverpool about 1738. In early life he was apprentice to a printer in his native town, and he subsequently spent two years at sea. He came to London in 1758, and at once commenced a career which, if not important in itself, had a very important influence on the political history of the country. The opposition, hampered and harassed by the government to an extent that threatened the total suppression of independent opinion, were in great need of a channel of communication with the public, and they found what they wanted in Almon. He had become personally known to the leaders through various publications of his own which had a great though transient popularity; the more important of these being The Conduct of a late Noble Commander [Lord George Sackville] Examined (1759); a Revieiv of the Reign of George II., published on the death of that monarch; a Beview of Mr Pitt s Administration (1761); and a collec tion of letters on political subjects. The review of Pitt s administration passed through four editions, and secured for its author the friendship of Lord Temple, to whom it was dedicated. Being thus in the counsels of the party, he was persuaded in 1763 to open a bookseller s shop in Piccadilly, chiefly for the publication and sale of political pamphlets. As he generally received with every pamphlet a sum sufficient to secure him against all contingencies, it cannot be said that he acted entirely from disinterested or patriotic motives. At the same time, he deserves the credit of intrepidity; and it cannot be denied that, whether he knew the full value of the principle for which he was con- . tending or not, he did very much to secure the freedom of the press. The government of course were not unobservant of Almon s proceedings, and, as has often been the case, strengthened his influence by the very measures they took to repress it. In 1765 the Attorney-General moved to have him tried for the publication of the pamphlet entitled Juries and Libels, but the prosecution failed; and in 1770, for merely selling a copy of the London Museum con taining Junius s celebrated " Letter to the King," he was sentenced by Lord Mansfield to pay a fine of ten marks, and give security for his good behaviour. It was this trial that called forth the letter to Lord Mansfield, one of the most bitter of the Junius series. Almon himself published an account of the trial, and of course did not let slip the opportunity of reprinting the matter that had been the ground of indictment, but no further proceedings were taken against him. In 1774 Almon commenced the pub lication of his Parliamentary Register, and he also issued an abstract of the debates from 1742, when Chandler s Reports ceased, to 1774. About the same time, having earned a competency, he retired to Boxmoor in Hertford shire, though he still continued to write on political subjects. He afterwards became proprietor of the General Advertiser, in the management of which he lost his fortune, and WAS declared insolvent. To these calamities was added an imprisonment for libel and a sentence of outlawry. Being enabled at last to return to Boxmoor, he continued for some years a career of undiminished literary activity. Hia last work, a Life of Wilkes, in five volumes (1805), was perhaps his worst, being entirely wanting in proportion and arrangement. He died on the 12th December 1805. A complete list of Almon s works, most of which appeared anonymously, is given in Watt s Bibliotheca Britannica. Though their literary merit is not great, they are of very considerable value to the student of the political history of the period. ALMOND. This is the fruit of Amygdalus comimmis, a plant belonging to the natural order Rosaces, sub-order AmygdaleaB or Drupiferas. The tree appears to be a native of Asia, Barbary, and Marocco ; but it has been extensively distributed over the warm temperate region of the Old World. It is a tree of moderate size ; the leaves are oblong- lanceolate, and ser rated at the edges; and the flowers, which appear early in spring, are of a pink colour. The fruit is a drupe, having a downy outer coat, called the epicarp, covering a tough portion called the mesocarp, which en closes the reticulated hard stony shell or enclocarp. The seed is the kernel which is contained within these coverings. The shell-almonds of trade consist of the endocarps enclosing the seeds. The tree grows in Syria and Palestine; and is referred to in the Bible under the name of Shaked, meaning " hasten." The word Luz, which occurs in Genesis xxx. 37, and which has been translated hazel, is .supposed to be another name for the almond. In Pales tine the tree flowers in January, and this hastening of the period of flowering seems to be alluded to in Jeremiah i. 11, 12, where the Lord asks the prophet, "What seest thoul" and he replies, "The rod of an almond-tree;" and the Lord says, " Thou hast well seen, for I will hasten my word to perform it." In Ecclesiastes xii. 5 it is said the " almond-tree shall flourish." This has often been supposed to refer to the resemblance of the hoary locks of age to the flowers of the almond; but this exposition is not borne out by the facts of the case, inasmuch as the flowers of the almond are not white but pink. The passage is more probably intended to allude to the hastening or rapid approach of old age. The application of Shaked or hasten to the almond is similar to the use of the name " May" for the hawthorn, which usually flowers in that month in Britain. The rod of Aaron, mentioned in Numbers xvii., was taken from an almond-tree; and the Jews still carry rods of almond-blossom to the synagogues on great festival days. The fruit of the almond supplied a model for certain kinds of ornamental carved work^ (Exodus xxv. 33, 34; xxxvii. 19, 20). Dr Tristram remarks: "The blossom of the almond is a very pale pink, but where, as in the The Almond-tree (Amygdalui communis), the fruit of which is a drupe with a tough mesocarp. Tlia Hebrew word Shaked is generally translated Al mond (Gen. xliii. 11; Exod. xxv. 33, 34; xxxvii. 19; Numb. xvii. 8). The word Luz, which occurs in Genesis xxx. 37, and is there translated Hazel, appears to be the name of the Almond-tree, while
Shaked is the name of the fruit.
